Emotions, affect and social policy: austerity and Children’s Centers in the UK

Abstract

This paper considers the ‘affective turn’ within social sciences, alongside the shift to a more emotional public and political sphere, and the implications of these shifts for the study of social policy. A context of austerity cuts and reforms to welfare services contributes to heightened and unstable emotions surrounding services. A case study of Sure Start Children’s Centers in the UK is presented, in two areas where centers were threatened with closure. Interview and ethnographic material with both staff and service users is presented to show how emotions became heightened and politicized in this context. Both staff and service users articulated the values of the centers in new ways, drawing on intimate and emotional registers of experience. Overall, the material shows how in this context, emotions can be understood as place-based, relational and politicized, potentially producing different values and visions of welfare services.